As the Bayelsa State Government hosts a lecture today in remembrance of Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, its governor from 1999 to 2005, who died 10 years ago, a former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori paid an emotional tribute to his late colleague, friend and ally in the Niger Delta betterment struggle.
Titled “In Eternal Honour of a General: A Tribute to Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha, 10 Years on” the tribute reads:
My brother, Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha
A decade has passed, yet the memory of you is etched in our hearts with a mixture of profound pride and enduring sorrow. Today, we remember you.
Even in mourning, we find solace in the unwavering veneration you receive from the people of Bayelsa, the Ijaw nation, and the entire South-South. This love stands in stark defiance of the political persecution and orchestrated disinformation that clouded your final years, culminating in a public hysteria that cost you your life.
On your triumphant return to Bayelsa from London in November 2005, our people rejoiced because they knew the truth, you suffered for championing their cause. Enraged, your traducers launched a vengeful assault, deploying troops and helicopters to Government House, Yenagoa, on a mission to kidnap or kill. Then they forced your impeachment, a grotesque parody of justice.
Spurious charges were levied against you, charges you denied to your last breath. You pleaded guilty when emissaries including myself, seeing your broken state, urged you to end the torture. But it was too late. Denied even the most basic post surgery care, your body succumbed to infected wounds.
I recount these travails to remind your family that you died in action. To the Ijaw people, I reaffirm, you were, and remain, our true Governor-General. You fell from injuries sustained in the battle for our dignity. You are our martyr.
We know why you suffered. We know why you died. And we pledge to wipe the dust of unsubstantiated blame from your gravestone, to cleanse your name of the undeserved dirt thrown by mudslingers. The truth is already emerging, you made the supreme sacrifice, framed and hounded to death by a gang of enemies for the crime of representing your people.
When you became Governor in 1999, you inherited a backwater state. I remember visiting you and we traveled everywhere by boat. But within two years, you had transformed the state capital and its environs through a fire of development. You gave Bayelsa a stable power supply, integrating it into the Nigerian state and the modern world. You built the foundation we stand on.
You broke the waves ahead of us, paid with your life, and inspired unyielding devotion in the crew you left behind. Our people will surely find the shore, for your life will be our guiding compass.
Ten years on, I declare to you, my friend, this is not the end. The prize we sought will still be won.
Continue to Rest in Peace, our “General”.
